The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-11
A THRILLING STORY.
How an Ell Paso Man Came Near to
Death.


when he's out all alone in the mountains"
said John Sanderson, an old prospector who
has his headquarters at FL Paso, but who
makes several incursions into the mining
districts every year Half of them believe
in ghosts, nine ont of ten in signs, and about
all of them in luck. Ny own experience
has changed my views IN good many par
ticulars, and, for one thing, it has made ire
firm believer i'll special providences. 1t
didn't come about gradually, but through
as marvellous escape from an awful death
as believe, yer falls TO men.
lit happened up in the Mimbres Noun
taius four years ago this summer. The
Mimhres lie in New Mexico, down below old
Fort Tule Rosa, and they must be full of
gold somewhere, because the beds Of the
creeks that find their way down the sides are
so rich in placer diggings that you can't pull
up a sage brush around there without see
ing bright specks among the roots. had
pet theory then that if you followed the
creeks up high enough and looked close
enough you would find n tremendous deposit
of gold in decomposed quartz. | thought,
YOU sec that little of it had washed off the
surface in the course of time and formed
those placers What | wanted to find was
the mother mine.
II talked the thing up to Charley Burke,
| another prOspectpr and friend OF mine, until
he agreed to put up half the outfit and join
me in the search. We got a couple Of bur
ros, the necessary tools, and started early in
the spring. The country about the MINI
bres is about as wild and desolate as any on
earth, and it was a trip that nothing but
faith and enthusiasm would prompt man
| to attempt. 1t was one succession of gOrgcS,
gulches and activities, all strewn with
granite boulders from tine size of a mans
hand to a four-story block, and often we
We're obliged to leave the water-course we
were following and make detours that took
| days at time.
''rhe creek we followed was almost dry
and we stopped frequently looking for
placers. We found no very rich ones, but
everywhere there was gold Sometimes
there would be lots of it in the bottom Of
the tin cup after we had taken a drink, and
sometimos-here is a curious thing-itwou
be floating on the surface. | Will let some
one who is better posted in science than l
tell why gold now and then floats, but only
know that little fakes of it do, and lot of
it is lost in sluice mining that way. As long
as we found placers we knew that the main
deposit was ahead. so we pushed along, tired
enough but confident. At last we came to
| spot where the sand was barren for several
| days journey, and then we began to pros
pect the country all around. To make
long story short we struck a ledge one
morning with outcroppings that crumbled
under my pick and showed quartz all streak
cd with yellow threads. Charlie | yelled
ous, all afre at once, we have struck it,
'But before we sunk a shaft we found
something else that sent our hearts
| TO our mouths. 1t was an old shaft,
back a little ways and in a claim, properly
staked out, that covered that very ledge.
! There was a notification according to law
on one of the posts, that Peter Sumner and
Joseph Klautzy had taken possession of the
Big Six and done the legal assessment work.
| sat right down collapsed, but Charley
went over to the shaft and came back to
! tell me that it didn't cover half the amount
necessary, under the law, to hold the prop
| erty for year We measured it and sure
| enough, it was only down about half the
required distance, so we took possession of
the property, changed its name to The
Treasury" and went to work
1--WE built ourselves rough shanty,
rugged up a windass and began to sink In
a few days we were into a formation rich
enough to make a mans head swim and
| getting better as we went down. We were
both so excited that we begrudged the time
to sleep and eat, and we neither Of us medi-
tated for an instant giving the claim up to
| anybody, assessment work or no assessment
work. What had become of the two men
was mystery. They he'd left no trace ex-
cept the notification board and shaft, and it
gave me the creeps now and then to think
that they might be dead But we were not
| in frame of mind to let sentiment interfere
with business.
Il suppose we had been there for couple
of weeks when provisions began to run
short. We didn't want to both leave the
claim ut once, so it was finally arranged
that Charley go down to the creek to
camp about fifty miles away and bring
| supply He took both burroS and started
off. | calculated itWould take him week
to make the trip, and time hung heavy on
my hands. | tried to work a little on the
shaft. The formation was very hard, and
we had rugged up a sort of croSs-bar ladder
| would go down this. fill the bucket, climb
to the surface and pull it up.
"At about noon of the second day after
he left | was startled at what | thought was
man crossing a little gulch half a mile
away. only had a view OF it between two
rocks and whatever it was passed 50 quickly
that was not sure. However, | waited for
a couple of hours and then, seeing nothing
further, concluded | was mistaken and /
went down into the shaft. ! filled the
bucket with very heavy ore, climbed up and
had it about half raised when a man came
walking up the creek bed toward me- Then
knew that l was right before.
"He was an ugly-looling customer, big
and brawny, with fiat, Scandinavian face,
and carried a Winchester on his arm had
little stick that slipped into the windlass
handle near the axle to keep it from turning
backward, and, leaving the bucket Just
where it was, suspended half way up, |
started toward the cabin to get my arms.
He covered me with his repeating rifle and
ordered me to halt
what are you doing on my claim" he
said
Il reckon you can sec" replied, putting
as good face on it as possibly could
You mean you've jumped it, you cursed
thiofp
mo, don't. There wasn't enough work
on it to hold it, and it was as much mine as
anyhody's.'
you lie!n
"He looked at me over the sights with his
wicked greenish eyes for full a minute.
Then he said:n
Did you ever pray2n '
YES" faltercd.
Then pray now. I'll give you two min
utes TO do it,"
"By that time my mind was clear enough
to take in the whole situation and had no
doubt but he intended to murder me then
and there With me out of toe waV there
would be no one TO testify TO the insufficient
work and | would simply be- regarded. if the
story of my death was ever told, as a claim
jumper who had been justly dealt with. |
felt my knees begin to tremble and tried an
other rock"
"If you kill me-" | said, "nly partner
will be back and see that you hang for it,"
1'Ill fix VOur nartnpr tho Sotno vay ,.o,,